SPM170600 - Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) - SSP: new employee with less than eight weeks earnings

There are different rules for calculating AWE for employee’s who have not received eight weeks wages or more prior to their PIW.

The relevant period is calculated differently and uses all the earnings paid before the PIW and the period it represents.

In these circumstances the employer should calculate the AWE using the period represented by all the earnings paid under the contract up to the first day of sickness.

If the employee only received three days wages the relevant period is three days, not the number of days the employee has worked before the start of the PIW.

Divide the three days wages by three, multiply by seven, regardless of the number of days a week the employee is expected to work.

Where the employee is paid multiple weekly or calendar monthly, and they have received only one payment before the PIW, the relevant period is the number of weeks the payment relates to, not the number of weeks the employee has been employed before the start of the PIW.

Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 1982 (SI 1982/894) - 19(7)

If no earnings were received before the employee went sick, see SPM170500